Why the Anxiety for the TPP?

The TPP trades off some U.S. protections and sovereignty to a foreign court sytem created under the agreement named an investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS). It’s not unusual for trade agreements to cede some sovereignty for the purpose of involving neutral parties. The TPP, however, seems to cede too much power to ISDS for some usual supporters of free-trade to support it. This was demostrated this Wednesday when “a group of academics who have traditionally embraced free trade, but who are alarmed by the inclusion of ISDS in the TPP. The group, 223 strong and led by Harvard Law Professor Laurence Tribe, warned that the U.S. will become subject to a flurry of suits by profit-seeking actors with no interest in working through a democratic or constitutional process.”  For others that opposed the agreement it is a combination of this same court system and a new strict set of rules that govern intellectual property and freedom of information. The potential pitfalls in the agreement are real with serious economic implications. The question now becomes, is this enough to kill the agreement?